WLA 
Game preview: Shamrock showdown for Thunder
The next two games should show the Langley Thunder how far they have come since the start of the Western Lacrosse Association season.
In the team’s inaugural game of the 2024 campaign, Langley travelled to Victoria where they fell 12-6 to the host Shamrocks. The loss was part of a 1-5 start to the season, but since then, the Thunder have gone 6-2-1 in their next nine contests to improve to 7-7-1, which places them second in the seven-team Senior A league.
But now comes a rematch with the Shamrocks as the two teams will now meet for a home-and-home series beginning tonight (Wednesday, July 24) at 7:00pm at Langley Events Centre before the rematch on Sunday (July 28) back at Victoria’s Q Centre.
Victoria sports a perfect 15-0 mark with three regular season games remaining and already has first place locked up while the Thunder find themselves in a fight for the remaining three playoff berths as four points separate second place from sixth place with only the top four qualifying for the post-season.
Langley enters the game coming off an 11-7 win on July 24 over the visiting Nanaimo Timbermen as Robert Church paced the offence with five goals and seven points. It marked the third straight game the right-handed forward potted five goals. Connor Robinson also had a stellar game, scoring once and setting up five goals while goaltender Aden Walsh made 47 saves as his team was out 54-41.
Victoria’s last game was also against the Timbermen as the Shamrocks went into Nanaimo and posted an 11-5 win behind hat tricks from Cole Pickup (3-2) and Tom Vaesen.
In terms of scoring leaders, Church is second in team scoring (24 goals and 45 points) with Chase Scanlan leading the way with 29 goals and 61 points. Robinson, who began the season on injured reserve, has scored five or more points in four of his last five games.
The Shamrocks are led by brothers Marshal King (23 goals and 56 points) and Jesse King (21 goals, 54 points).
Three of the top four points per game leaders are involved in this matchup with Victoria’s Jesse King second with 5.4 ppg while the Thunder duo of Church (5.0) and Robinson (4.8) sit third and fourth, respectively.
In net, the combination of Chris Origlieri (7.00 goals against average, .835 save percentage) and Cam Dunkerley (7.29 GAA, .821) have both proven tough to beat in the Shamrocks goal. Origlieri leads the WLA in both categories while Dunkerley is second and fifth, respectively. For Langley, Walsh has been top five in both categories as well with an 8.96 GAA and an .822 save percentage, both of which rank him fourth. He is also the busiest goaltender in the league with 627 saves.
For the special teams’ battle, it will be Langley’s No. 1 ranked power play (.453) against Victoria’s top-ranked penalty kill unit (.731). The Thunder penalty kill comes in ranked second (.633) with Victoria’s power play checking in at No. 4 (.407).
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